The Russian Embassy considered the deportation of the abbot of the Russian Orthodox Church from Sofia to be a fabricated story

The story of the expulsion from Bulgaria of the rector of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, Archimandrite Vassian (Zmeev), and two church employees was prepared in advance and is fabricated. No specific charges were brought against him, told Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic Eleonora Mitrofanova on the air of “Russia-24”.

“This was all prepared in advance, it was all by decision of the prime minister or the ministerial council. Of course, we regard this as an extremely unfriendly step <...> This is all a completely fabricated story, and nothing specific was said, it was said that they [священнослужители] a threat to the national security of Bulgaria,” she said.

Church of St. Nicholas of Mirlikiy, in which the courtyard was located, will suspend work, its future fate will be decided by the Russian Orthodox Church, she added. Russia, Mitrofanova noted, will respond to this step by Sofia, but mirror measures against the metochion of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Moscow will not be taken.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, in turn, said that he did not participate in the decision on the expulsion; it was made by the special services. “There is a secret report from the State National Security Agency which shows that they committed actions that were not consistent with their status in Bulgaria,” he explained to reporters (quote according to TASS).

According to data on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Vassian was appointed rector of the metochion in Sofia in March 2018. Before that, he served as the representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ in the Belarusian Exarchate. He was elevated to the rank of archimandrite in 2016.

In December 2022, protesters blocked Church of St. Nicholas in Sofia, in which Mitrofanova and Metropolitan Anthony (Sevryuk) of Volokolamsk were located. The protesters shouted anti-Russian slogans and expressed dissatisfaction with the visit of the Metropolitan, who is the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church. Protesters claimed that the service was dedicated to the victory of the Russian army in Ukraine, but this information was denied by the Russian embassy.